Worth
by BunniesOfDoom
Summary: Victor learns an important lesson.


Wrote this for a friend's birthday. Content warning for vomit. Set pre-series. Enjoy!

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Victor is not having a good week.

It's the first time he's had to travel without Makkachin since he got his dog, and he already misses her terribly. The absence of his poodle has him distracted and worried, and it shows in his skating. Yakov is angry about his poor performance in the short program.

"Do you want to make it to the Grand Prix Final or not?" his coach had demanded, clearly not impressed with his fourth-place ranking. Victor's failure to advance to the finals the year before, in his senior debut, was a sore spot for the both of them.

On top of everything, Victor is exhausted. He's still a bit jet lagged; their flight had been delayed, giving him less time to adjust. Between not having his dog and his competition nerves, he's barely slept over the past few days. But he's not about to let a little tiredness keep him down.

The morning of the free skate dawns bright and early. Victor reluctantly drags himself out of bed when he hears his alarm, getting dressed and making sure to eat a hearty breakfast. He's going to need all of his energy for today. His warmup is tense; Yakov is clearly still irritated with him about yesterday. Other than that, though, his warmup goes well and he's feeling pretty confident afterwards.

Of course, that confidence abandons him as soon as he hears the scores for the first two competitors. Even if he performs perfectly, he still might not be able to catch up. He almost panics, before an idea comes to him: he can change up the jump composition to help boost his score. He doesn't bother telling Yakov (his coach will just yell at him) and instead focuses on rearranging his routine.

He assumes his starting position on the ice and takes a deep breath to clear his head. The beginning chords of the music sound and Victor whirls into motion, every movement sharp and precise. The first half of the routine isn't too tiring (although the step sequences are draining) because he's moved most of the jumps into the second half.

It isn't until he's almost finished with the routine that Victor realizes that this might have been a mistake. Between the exertion and all of the twists and spins in his routine, he's feeling more queasy with every movement. Still, he manages to hold it together until the end of the routine.

As the audience roars with applause, Victor swallows convulsively, silently begging his stomach to stay in place. Clearly too much breakfast had been a mistake, and oh, he really shouldn't be thinking about food right now. Desperate, he drops his final pose and turns for the exit.

The sudden motion proves to be too much for his already uneasy stomach, and Victor doubles over with a choking noise as his stomach forces its way up his throat. He retches painfully as his half-digested breakfast spatters the clean white ice. He barely has a chance to breath before he's heaving again, more vomit pouring out of his mouth and dribbling down his chin.

He feels a gross dampness in his hair and realizes that he's gotten puke in it, much to his horror. When the vomiting finally stops, Victor is still too mortified to move. A hand grasps his arm and he looks up to see Georgi. "You should probably try to get off the ice. Can you stand?" the other boy asks, sounding sympathetic. Victor gives a tiny nod and allows Georgi to help him to his feet, keeping his eyes low the entire way across the rink.

Yakov is standing at the exit when they get there, frowning in disapproval. "Go and get yourself cleaned up," he instructs Victor, waving Georgi off. "You're a mess. I will wait in the kiss and cry for you."

Victor darts off to the bathroom, relieved to be out of the limelight. His reflection is a sight to see: there's vomit crusted on his chin and in his pale hair. He grabs a couple of paper towels and scrubs at his face and hair, getting himself cleaned up as quickly as possible.

He reluctantly makes his way back to Yakov when he's finished, but Yakov isn't in the kiss and cry anymore. He looks around for his coach before spotting him at the side of the rink, where the next skater is performing.

"You're currently in first place," Yakov announces gruffly when he sees Victor. "Good work today."

Victor beams happily at the praise. The exhaustion and humiliation were worth it after all!

"And Vitya?" Victor snaps out of his happy daze and turns to face his coach again. "Next time, don't eat too much before you skate."

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Thank you for reading! Please leave a review!


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